Hi guys,
This is off-topic and I apologize, but I trust the wisdom of this group.
I have a ~20K gallon swimming pool here in the Los Angeles area and would like
to build a solar pool heater.
My pool pump and filter are at a lower elevation than the pool, and I have
plenty of space adjacent to the pump with a good southern exposure. Given that
the array would be lower than the pool, this seems like a natural for solar
heating (should not take much pump with the inherent gravity flow)
I am looking at the commercial solutions that use flat black rubber panels
that are intended for roof mount, but I was wondering if I could fabricate a
"solar collector" out of PVC pipe painted black or use ABS pipe either in a
parallel or "serpentine" array with a small, efficient, separate pump (I have
two inlets to the pool and could just create one "loop" for the solar heater).
I know there are a lot of sizing issues, will the pipe stand up to the
heat/pressure, etc., but since I have the space and don't need to do a roof
mount (the array would be on a down-side hill and would not need be
visible/nee to be attractive), I am wondering what you think about using
conventional plastic plumbing materials to create a solar array?
I could just frame it at the optimal solar angle and lay the pipes adjacent
side-by-side, or could put a black back-plate made of most any material, or
could get fancy and put the pipe in a "box" with a glass top to trap the heat,
etc.
But I am thinking that with a surface area of the same size or even twice the
size of the pool, a sizable array of black plastic pipe just sitting in the
SoCal sun could pump a great deal of heat into the pool without any fancy
efforts.
It seems to me that it should work. If I am missing something here, PLEASE let
me know. Thanks in advance guys.
best,
doug
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